Night after 20 arrests, Lexington protesters return to call for police accountability
The night after 20 protesters were arrested by Lexington police, a group gathered downtown for the seventeenth straight night to call for police accountability.
The group of protesters Sunday night included several people who were arrested Saturday night when protesters passed a barrier to have a die-in in front of the Lexington Police Department headquarters.
Police charged Qawi Muhammad with second-degree disorderly conduct and failure to disperse in connection with Saturday night’s protest. On Sunday night, he was back out and leading protesters through downtown.
Muhammad said Sunday that he doesn’t understand why the arrests were made Saturday.
“We’ve been the same, we’ve been peaceful,” Muhammad said. “We have not done anything outside our norm. We make our chants, yeah we antagonize, we’re angry. But now y’all coming at us with a different face. Y’all want us to act more aggressively, why is that?”
Several of the main protest organizers, including Sarah Williams, stopped by to address protesters who gathered Sunday night, but decided to take the rest of the night off to recover after their arrests Saturday night.
Williams, who was among those arrested Saturday night, told protesters that she needed to take the night to rest, but that she was “passing the torch” to other protesters to lead for the night.
The remaining protesters Sunday night focused on remaining peaceful. At one point, a protest organizer told the group that they are gathering to hold police and city officials to a high standard, and that the protesters will continue to also hold each other to that same high standard.
Joshua Patton was another of the protesters arrested Saturday night, and he questioned the “inciting a riot” charge filed against Williams and her sister, April Taylor.
“There is no riot, only 12, 13 people laid there, several other people laid around them,” Patton said. “There was no riot there. There was no reason. Eight minutes and 40 seconds was all we were asking for. We came in very nicely, moved the gate, and when we got done we’d have done the same thing.”
Protester Brandon Barber said the protests are about more than just Lexington, but also about police in smaller towns that may not “kill anybody” but abuse power.
The protesters marched through downtown Lexington, stopping at Cheapside and to chant at officers outside Lexington Police Department Headquarters.
At one point Sunday night, protesters chanted at people at Tin Roof on South Limestone. While they were there, someone at The Paddock yelled at the protesters, cursed, and told them to go back downtown. At that point protesters went in front of The Paddock to chant at the people there.
“We weren’t even bothering these guys, but when he said that we came down here,” Muhammad said. “They threw the first punch and they maced us.”
Video of the incident that was submitted to the Herald-Leader showed someone on the patio of The Paddock swinging at a protester and knocking away his megaphone. It also shows another person on The Paddock patio appearing to spray protesters with pepper spray.
Lexington police were parked nearby when the incident in front of The Paddock began and quickly came over. Officers at the scene took statements from people who were there and protesters shared video of what happened.
Lexington firefighters were also called in to check out the protesters who were pepper sprayed.
Brandon Morris was one of the protesters who was pepper sprayed.
“I’m just standing there, I ain’t threatened nobody, I’m barely even cussing, I didn’t throw no punches, I didn’t do nothing,” Morris said. “Dude for whatever reason felt he needed to mace us and start throwing punches, jumping over the rope and stuff.”
Morris said what happened won’t stop him from coming to protest tomorrow or in the future. “I ain’t stopping until I get some change,” Morris said.
Lexington police took a harassment with physical contact report at The Paddock and continue to investigate, police Sgt. Andre Grider said Sunday night. As of Sunday night no arrests had been made. No serious injuries were reported.
Protesters have been gathering downtown every night for more than two weeks to call for more accountability in the Lexington Police Department, specifically calling for changes in the department’s collective bargaining agreement.
This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 1:15 AM.
